UNITED NATIONS – Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday held out threats of a conventional war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours spinning out of control and the radicalisation of Muslims in India and around the world in his address to the General Assembly.
Khan painted a chilling picture of bloodbath in Kashmir as he attacked India in his extempore speech that lasted 50 minutes against 15 minutes allotted to him.
It was mostly a repetition of his speeches elsewhere this week.
Imran Khan asked the world community, whether Muslims are children of a lesser God.
Imran Khan spoke after the two speakers who followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
His speech focused on his nation’s problems and raising the spectre of war and was a contrast to Modi’s.
Giving his scenario for war, Imran Khan said that when the “curfew” is lifted in Kashmir there will be a bloodbath.
People will be out in the streets and the troops “will shoot them”, he said.
Kashmiris will be further radicalised and he predicted there will be another Pulwama.
Pakistan will be blamed for the reactions if a conventional war starts between the two nuclear-armed countries, anything can happen when a country faces one seven times its size, he said.
“There is no God but one” and “we will fight to the end,” he said as some in the gallery cheered and clapped.
Speaking of human rights violations and possible reactions to the aftermath of the lifting of restrictions in Kashmir, Imran Khan asked: “What do you think Muslims will think? What will be their response?”
Muslims in India will be radicalised, and they (India) will blame Pakistan for it, he asserted.
Moreover, someone among the world’s 1.3 billion Muslim will act, he said hinting at mass terror as he cited a movie set in America where a man who was mugged goes around killing people in his rage.
He said that India had said that 500 terrorists were at the border, waiting to cross over and asked what would they do against 900,000 troops.
He said that India will use the “mantra” of “radical Islam” and the world will turn away.
He said that world was not acting because of India’s market of 1.2 billion people and nations were putting markets above people.
India should lift the “curfew” and let the political prisoners and 2,000 detained “boys” go, he said.
The UN should act immediately to end the lockdown in Kashmir and then get the people of Kashmir their right to self-determination, he added.
Imran Khan also alleged that India was involved in stoking terrorism in Balochistan and claimed that Kulbhushan Jadav, a former Indian Navy officer captured on the Iran border by Pakistan had confessed to aiding terrorists.
In his speech mixing threats and excuses, he defended the action by Muslims against Salman Rushdie for his novel “Satanic Verses” and attacks on those who lampoon or criticise his religion.
He said that the west did not understand the sentiments of the Muslim people and the regard they had for their prophet and accused it of Islamaphobia.
He launched a vicious attack on the RSS saying it was inspired by Hitler and Mussolini and “Aryan” and Hindu supremacy.
This was the ideology that inspired the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said.
Khan said that he had reached out India for talks and a reset in relations, but was repeatedly rebuffed.
India has refused to talk to Pakistan unless it ends its support for terrorism.
Imran Khan also tried to link radical religiosity to Hinduism by trying to paint the suicide bombers of Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka as Hindu religion-based terrorists, when in fact they were ethnic with many Christians in their leadership. The organisation’s sea force chief was Soosai and its international spokesperson was Anton Balasingham, among the many Christian leaders of an ethnicity-based organisation.
India Hits Back At Pak PM
India on Saturday exercised its right to reply to issue a rebuttal to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speech at 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. In a strongly-worded reply, India said that Mr Khan’s threat of unleashing nuclear devastation “qualifies as brinkmanship not statesmanship”.
“Rarely has the General Assembly witnessed such misuse, rather abuse, of an opportunity to reflect. Words matter in diplomacy. Invocation of phrases such as ‘pogrom’, ‘bloodbath’, ‘racial superiority’, ‘pick up the gun’ and ‘fight to the end’ reflect a medieval mindset and not a 21st century vision,” said Vidisha Maitra, First Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs.
Mr President,
I take the floor to exercise India’s right of reply to the statement made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Every word spoken from the podium of this august Assembly, it is believed, carries the weight of history. Unfortunately, what we heard today from Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan was a callous portrayal of the world in binary terms. Us vs Them; Rich vs Poor; North vs South; Developed Vs Developing; Muslims vs Others. A script that fosters divisiveness at the United Nations. Attempts to sharpen differences and stir up hatred, are simply put – “hate speech”.
Rarely has the General Assembly witnessed such misuse, rather abuse, of an opportunity to reflect. Words matter in diplomacy. Invocation of phrases such as pogrom”, “bloodbath”, “racial superiority”, “pick up the gun” and “fight to the end” reflect a medieval mindset and not a 21st century vision.
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s threat of unleashing nuclear devastation, qualifies as brinksmanship, not statesmanship. Even coming from the leader of a country that has monopolized the entire value chain of the industry of terrorism, Prime Minister Khan’s justification of terrorism was brazen and incendiary. For someone who was once a cricketer, and believed in the gentleman’s game, today’s speech bordered on crudeness of a variety reminiscent of the guns of Dara Adamkhel.
Mr President, now that Prime Minister Imran Khan has invited UN observers to Pakistan, to verify that there are no militant organizations in Pakistan, the world will hold him to that promise. Here are a few questions that Pakistan can respond to as a precursor to the proposed verification:
Can Pakistan confirm the fact that it is home to 130 UN designated terrorists and 25 terrorist entities listed by the UN as of today. Will Pakistan acknowledge that it is the only government in the world that provides pension to an individual listed in the Al Qaeda and Daesh sanctions list. Can Pakistan explain why here in New York, its premier bank – the Habib Bank – had to shut shop after it was fined millions of dollars over terror financing. Will Pakistan deny that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has put the country on notice for its violation of 20 of the 27 key parameters. And finally, would Prime Minister Khan deny to the city of New York that he was an open defender of Osama bin Laden.
Mr President, having mainstreamed terrorism and hate speech, Pakistan is trying to play its wild card as the newfound champion of human rights. This is a country that has shrunk the size of its minority community from 23% in 1947, to 3% today, and has subjected Christians, Sikhs, Ahmadias, Hindus, Shias, Pashtuns, Sindhis, and Balochis, to draconian blasphemy laws, systemic persecution, blatant abuse and forced conversions.
The newfound fascination for preaching human rights is akin to trophy-hunting of the endangered mountain goat, the Markhor.
Pogroms, Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi, are not a phenomenon of today’s vibrant democracies. We would request you to refresh your rather sketchy understanding of history. Do not forget the gruesome genocide perpetrated by Pakistan against its own people in 1971, and the role played by Lieutenant General AAK Niazi – a sordid fact that the honourable Prime Minister of Bangladesh reminded this assembly about earlier this afternoon.
Mr President, Pakistan’s virulent reaction to the removal of an outdated and temporary provision that was hindering development and integration of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir stems from the fact that those who strive on conflict, never welcome the ray of peace. While Pakistan has ventured to upstream terrorism and downstream hate speech there, India has gone ahead with mainstreaming development in Jammu and Kashmir.
The mainstreaming of Jammu and Kashmir as well as Ladakh, in India’s thriving and vibrant democracy, with a millennia-old heritage of diversity, pluralism, and tolerance is well and truly under way – irreversibly so. The citizens of India do not need anyone else to speak on their behalf, least of all those who have built an industry of terrorism from the ideology of hate.
I thank you, Mr President.
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